PONCA CITY – The City Central Building in Downtown Ponca City was the proud host of the 2019 BisonBison Film Festival, and Ponca Post had the opportunity to witness the great films that students from 14 different colleges in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Even State Representative Ken Luttrell made an appearance to watch some films at the festival. A total of 20 films were displayed at the festival, which we will currently update when we find online links to the films. This article will be divided by colleges and universities that attended the festival. The films are not listed in order as to when they displayed. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!
University of Texas-Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington brought four films to the festival. . The first film displayed was “Chicago Lady” by Joshua Gallas, which was a film an elderly man named Leroy who begins to shut out music that brought him and his deceased wife together. However, Leroy shares his musical experience and struggles with a young man who starts playing the piano after finishing the yard work.
The next UTA film titled “Mom” by Hienn Dinh, was about a Vietnamese-American high school student named Anh who gets sent to the principals office after dumping a carton of milk on a male student who was bullying her because of how her mom’s food smelled. Minh, her mom and an immigrant, is called to the school where Anh attempts to describe what happened but can’t. They head home where Anh explodes with frustration, but then finds a mobile application where she can communicate to her mother what happened.
The third film displayed by UTA was “Hugo’s Plane” by Jo X-Cruz. The film starts out peacefully as a young, privileged boy named Hugo and his friend Jacob are playing one night in the Post-WW2 era . Things suddenly take a turn when frustration causes not only a fight to break out, but a toy plane is then broken. Things take a turn for the worst as Hugo’s mother walks into the room, takes advantage of the situation and fires Jacob’s mother, the household maid. This causes a rift between the families as the harsh realities of the 1940s/50s is seen.
The final film showed by UTA was “Take Care” by Joseph Tesfaye. The story involved a young black man, being a victim of racism, is confronted with the chance to take retribution on the people responsible for the harassment. The only problem is that cops were the aggressors to him.
University of Kansas
The film that students at the University of Kansas presented was quite interesting. The film was titled “Tell My Family I Love Them” by Erik Harken. Our editor could relate to the opening on a personal level due to the fact that it talks about running track and playing Minecraft, so throwback to 2013. All jokes aside, the film was about an athlete named Thomas who is setting goals for times and places in his races. A conflict breaks out with his mom as he claims track is what will put him in college and not her. Thomas learns a new goal he must set as his older brother is killed in multi-fatal car accident on a 4th of July weekend. After dealing with the grief, the new goal Thomas has in mind is the tell his family he loves them.
Sterling College
Sterling College out of Sterling, Kansas featured a film titled “Not Alone In This” by Micah Watney. The film starts out with two boys at a park having a discussion about a trip to Disney World. The kid describing his trip to Disney World over exaggerated about how the ride “Splash Mountain” broke down and sent them flying down into the waters. You might have had that one friend growing up who like to hype things up more than what they were. We get the mindset that the film takes place in a small town as you can see rural land and old railroad tracks as the boys bike home. On the way home, we realize one of the kids has personal struggles after having a small accident on his bike. The problems grow as we learn the friend who said they went to Disney World is dead. We end with the mother saying that no one his age should ever have to deal with that sort of thing.
Southeast Missouri University
Southeast Missouri University in Cape Giradeau, Missouri brought students featuring the film “Two Houses” by Jasmine Jones. The film starts out with a young boy talking to a friend that is a girl, where she tells that she gets to have two birthdays and Christmas’s due to parents being divorced. The young boy asks why they are divorced and how it all happened. While she explains what all happens, the boy learns that his parents are going through a divorce, and every time the young girl mentions what the steps are, we see the young boy dealing with that with his family. Jones mentioned in a Q&A that she saw as a high school student what younger kids dealt with that had divorced parents.
University of Arkansas
Before talking about the three films presented by the University of Arkansas, it is worth mentioning that their School of Broadcasting had all three films be documentaries on the homelessness situation in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Each film provided a different angle of the situation.
The first film titled “Out Of The Woods” by Andrew Epperson followed a homeless man named Clinton Albright who doesn’t fit any of the negative stereotypes. The filmmakers wanted to show how funny and charismatic Albright was, as well as showing that he wanted to work to afford a living.
The second film shown by Arkansas was “Homeless In Boomtown” by Denzel Jenkins. The film shows a growing number of men, women and children that are calling the streets home. The story also shows how volunteers do not look away.
The third film shown, and the final film of the festival, was “A Shelter First” by Bryan Pallard. This film not only showed the homeless issue in Fayetteville, but also a proposal by the city to place transitional shelters in a specific area for the homeless. The film displays how the homeless population has grown over the past decade in Fayetteville and even gets to show both those who are for the project and those who are against.
University of Missouri-Kansas City
UMKC students featured two films. The first film shown was “KOSTYM” by Jeffrey Mundinger, which the name is pronounced like costume. The film is about a costume designer, who was once a tailor, is being visited by his old friend who is in need of an alteration, but even more so, a profession.
The second film displayed by UMKC was “The Book” by Kyle Womelduff. We get to see a young Midwestern who seeks the thrill of reading and developing a flirtation with the librarian. However, things take a wild turn as the reader fins himself inside the book he reads.
Wichita State University
Wichita State student’s had one film at the festival and it was one that could send chills down your spines. The film titled “The Passenger” by Nathan Light, is a short film that takes place on a snowy night. We see a man driving his car when suddenly a hitchhiker is picked up in the middle of nowhere. Things only get more chilling as the hitchhiker pulls out a knife in the car and not only shows the driver where he has made slits on his wrist, but adds another one as we see blood coming out of his arm. In a Q&A during the festival, Light told Ponca Post that they used corn starch and flower on the knife to make it seem like real blood. The film ends with the psychopath being left in the snow as the driver escapes.
Missouri Western State
The film students from Missouri Western State featured was “The Scotsman” by Russell Gummelt. The film follows a drunken Scotsman stumbling out of a pub and passes out on the grass. When then see some passers-by who are curious about the Scotsman leading to some… interesting humor.
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma had a total of three films on display at the festival. The first film shown by OU was “Mono Color” by Ross DeFehr. The short film is basically a look at familiar faces in unfamiliar ways. What’s interesting about the film is how different parts of the film tend to overlap one another due to skillful editing techniques.
The second film shown by OU was “Self Portrait” by Faun Harja. The film talks about a young person dealing with the struggles of gender identity, sexual orientation and cultural identity, which has been a normal aspect of the filmmaker’s life. This film is a part of Faun’s exploration of Muscogee culture and others by sharing their identity openly and honestly.
The third film shown by OU was “The Case Of The Stuffing Slasher” by Anna Frieden. We see an older kid playing with stuffed animals which then transitions to a wacky and goofy detective case about learning who has been slashing stuffed animals. To describe how the detective was in the film, think somewhat of Eddie from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. We learn that the real culprit of the stuffing slashing is the kids older brother.
Johnson County Community College
Johnson County Community College out of Olathe, Kansas featured a short film titled “Defacement” by Maura Conry. While the film was only 2 minutes, it was enough to show the pain people put themselves through to make them look beautiful. The film featured blood and stitches. Conry said that she learned special effects from local talents who knew how to make fake blood and stitches.
University of Nebraska
If you’re someone who doesn’t care much for Christmas decorations before December, then the film “A Very Unmerry Early November” by Danielle Trausch might be what you’re looking for. The film is about this Christmas obsessed couple who are putting up Christmas decorations when they receive an unexpected visitor who wishes to punish them for celebrating too early. A slapstick chase ensues and a confrontation forces the couple to make a difficult choice.
Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa
Our local NOC-Tonkawa had students feature a film called “Mr. Sandman” by Ian Rogers. The film is about a college student named Trenton who deals with sleep deprivation, Insomnia and working 24/7, which sounds like what many college students deal with these days. Trenton then seems to have hallucinations and has a difficult time comprehending reality. Rogers mentioned in a Q&A that visual efffects and after effects were used to make certain shots look jittery where we saw sand being dumped out of a person’s hand. NOC students were not allowed much time making this film as they only had 48 hours to produce it for a 48-hour film festival.
All in all, the BisonBison Film Festival brought great films to Ponca City. But it wasn’t all that easy. Film student dealt with struggles producing their films. Whether if they had 2 years or 48 hours to produce, some of the issues included dealing with kids, casting, recording the audio while outside and lighting.
At the end of the BisonBison Film Festival, the Excellent Awards were handed out to three films. The winners are listed below.
Excellent Award Winners:
- “A Very Unmerry Early November”
- “KOSTYM”
- “Tell My Family I Love Them”
Pictured above are the cast and crew members that attended the 2019 BisonBison Film Festival.
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